Nature News

Biology and other science news items from Nature News, the popular science syndication arm of the premier international science publisher, the Nature Publishing Group. Nature News is an authoritative and accessible online roundup of what's new in science research.

In the debate about how bacterial mutations arise, an experiment in 1943 showed that they can occur spontaneously and independently of a selection pressure. This study also popularized the use of maths-driven analysis of biological data.

A preference for mating with similar individuals can have a key role in speciation. Research on Darwin’s finches suggests that individuals might use the likeness of their parents as a guide for choosing mates.

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of hard-to-treat human infections. It now seems that, if the bacterium is infected by a virus, a viral enzyme helps the microbe to evade detection by the immune system.